Music In Our Schools Month

I know I'm a little late with this post, since it is already more than halfway through March, but don't worry- I've been putting up displays in my hallway since the March 3rd and it's the best advocacy I've ever done for Music in Our Schools Month!!

The first thing I did was change my Twitter profile picture:

Last year I took a page out of Lindsay Jervis' book (or blog) and used her Wild About Music set to make a collage outside of my room. Each student and staff member responded to the prompt "I'm Wild About Music because..." and it made an awesome display in my hallway! Since that was so successful last year, I figured, why not get everyone involved and do it again! Here is the beginning of this year's "Wild About Music" display, I will be adding another big collage at the end of this week (Thanks to Lindsay for the inspiration two years running!):

I also took Tracy King's Music In Our Schools Month Staff Survey, circulated it via email, and compiled the answers/added pictures to create the display below: You're A Grand Old Staff! I decided to put the names up there and then I will probably use the same display next year and have kids guess after it has been more than one year- maybe making a trivia game out of it! The kids and staff have had so much fun reading about everyone's musical backgrounds and I've learned a TON about my colleagues!

In addition, I used all of the instrument knowledge from the staff surveys to create a display showing who played what instruments (an amazing parent volunteer helped me by hanging this- it looks way better than it would have if I had done it alone!):

And the last addition to my music advocacy hallway displays is a March Madness-inspired voting game: Music Madness!! We are starting with 16 popular songs and voting on those this week, the voting will continue to narrow down the choices until a few weeks after Spring Break when we will have our official school winner!! Here is the start of our bracket:

I have to admit that this was a last minute decision on my part. My classes have been voting over the past two days and teachers are voting via Google Form, and it has been SO much fun! The kids love listening to the little snippets (yes I know that not all of those songs are completely appropriate, but the kids know every single one of them- I am using segments that are school-appropriate) and voting for their favorites! I made a ThingLink interactive image for the staff to use to familiarize themselves with the songs they don't know- go ahead and check it out if you're stumped by some of these songs! ThingLink is my new favorite tool- I'm sure I'll be posting about it on here soon!

Music Madness ThingLink Image

I am most excited about these displays for two reasons:

1) It has brought the school community together to advocate for music education (even if they don't know they're doing it directly).

2) My All School Show is next Thursday and I will have a TON of parents walking through the hallways who will get to learn about our staff and students and see all of the great music advocacy going on here at Hoffman Boston!

I hope to hear about some of your MIOSM displays and activities and I have truly enjoyed reading some of your blog posts about them!

Have a great Wednesday!

~Ms. Patrician